Should I use a finish on a cedar chest?

Commercially manufactured chests seem to have a clear varnish applied to the outside only. And many are constructed of other materials and lined with tongue and grove aromatic cedar.

-- Russell Pitner Hixson, TN 37343 bassboy40@msn.com

I have always left the cedar un-finished on the inside of a chest. I have also made one chest out of solid cedar. Three coats of poly, on the outside only.

and the inside

Note: to bring back, or renew to “Cedar” smell, just scruff sand it.

-- A Planer? I'M the planer, this is what I use

Beautifully done Bandit!

-- Russell Pitner Hixson, TN 37343 bassboy40@msn.com

for wood movement purposes finish the outside, but don’t finish the inside as you will lost the cedar smell on clothes. I made a cedar chest and waited five years to finish the outside, big mistake, should have finished the outside a long long time ago.

-- The mark of a good carpenter is not how few mistakes he makes, but rather how well he fixes them.

I’ve always been taught that what you do to one side, you do to the other but my dad made a cedar chest in high school and only finished the outside; 60 years later it hasn’t warped or changed.

-- -- Rick M.

I made a cedar chest in high school. I graduated in 1965 so do the math. I believe I built that chest when I was a junior in high school. I was taught to not finish th einside because you lose the smell and the ability to drive moths away. I put boiled linseed oil on the outside. It makes the color come out and it get beautiful in a hurry. Then sanding sealer is was applied over the oil. # coats of laquer was applied over that with sanding between coats. Rubbed the last coat with 0000 steel wool and put on Johnson’s paste wax. Looks as good today as it did when it was built. If you don’t put on a finish coat the outside will dull in time and not be so attractive. BLO will make the cedar rich in color.